Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 3, 1994 TAG: 9402050006
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Ernst & Young, consultants hired by the town to study the town's water system, had made an interim recommendation last year to raise rates by 24 percent. Pulaski Town Council accepted the recommendation as a start toward getting its water fund out of the red, although billing at the new rates was delayed a month.
In its final report discussed at council's meeting this weekFeb2, Ellen Erhardt of Ernst & Young called the recommended increases minimal by comparison: 5 percent increases would begin in June this year and next year.
A farther-reaching recommendation would cut the town's water rate structure from seven to three blocks, and put in place a fixed charge instead of the current minimum 3,000-gallon charge to cover billing, meter service and some of the capital costs.
Council member Alma Holston liked elimination of the 3,000-gallon minimum, which was charged even if some users consumed less than that amount of water per month.
Councilman Andy Graham warned that the town might not have given the consultants high enough figures to plug into their calculations to cover capital costs, though.
At its meeting Tuesday, council added plans to improve water service to Draper Mountain Estates to projects already proposed for a $488,791 loan being sought from the Farmers Home Administration.
Gilbert Barker, a resident of that area, said town officials pledged to make those improvements 17 years ago after water pressure proved insufficient to fight a house fire. He said the 17 families in that area sometimes can use only one water faucet and occasionally have no water at all.
Ernst & Young provided the town with a formula that would allow Pulaski to change its rates, if necessary, to cover the higher costs of capital needs.
The recommendations also include ``availability fees'' in connection with the proposed $470 connection fee, which is now $400.
The one-time availability fee charges would range from $330 to $37,924, depending on the size of the meter involved. Erhardt said there were relatively few of the larger meters in town.
She said revenue from the availability fees should be earmarked for future water system expansion. ``I don't think you're going to have a problem finding usage for that money,'' she said.
Consolidated billings were proposed for industrial customers with multiple meters, although it remained unclear whether there would be separate billings for an industry with operations and water meters separated by large distances within the town.
``It seems to me that, if we don't treat every industry the same way, we're in trouble,'' Graham said.
All these matters will be discussed at council work sessions to be scheduled between now and the time when a public hearing is set for any water rate increase.
In other business, council approved an emergency contract with Draper Aden Associates to fix corroded lines from the town to the Peppers Ferry Regional Wastewater Treatment Authority plant. The sharing of the cost will be worked out later among the towns of Pulaski and Dublin and Pulaski County.
The emergency was deemed to exist after deterioration in the lines was discovered by Draper Aden, using a camera device that actually moved through the lines and showed their condition. Failure of a gravity line would mean a loss of sewer service to both towns and the county.
Pulaski joined Dublin Town Council, the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors and Pulaski Encouraging Progress in endorsing a routing of the proposed new Interstate 73 through the county.
And it passed a resolution honoring Frances B. Burnette, who retired last month as chief dispatcher for the town. She was hired as a dispatcher in 1977 and became chief dispatcher in 1989, handling all Police Department and emergency calls.
by CNB